Chocolate Lover’s Soiree

As I was flipping through my photos for posting I realized I never posted up these photos/review of the Chocolate Lover’s Soiree, a fundraiser for the Easton Main Street Initiative that occurred on January 30th.  If you remember, that was the fateful day of the Souper Bowl so I really did some destruction to my body and attended these two gluttonous affairs in one fattening day.

Details are a little fuzzy at this point but I remember a lot of the stuff being pretty pedestrian…the main things that stood out were Sette Luna’s White Chocolate Panna Cotta which was rich but not too heavy.  Easily the most ballsy and interesting combinations came from Tallarico’s Chocolates.  They were featuring a dark chocolate cayenne pepper meltaways.  Cayenne pepper in chocolate is an old recipe, dating back to the Aztecs, but has made a reappearance in mainstream gourmet food circles and recipes in the past few years.  The cayenne peppers is curious in the sense that the full chocolate flavor is displayed without a hint of pollution from the heat, and at the end you get a sudden kick of pepper spice that lingers and diminishes slowly.  The other chocolate from Tallarico’s that was really new and raised the bar for me was their Lapsang Souchong truffles.  Lapsang Souchong is a distinctive tea made so by the process of drying the tea leaves over smoldering pine needles, delivering a unique, smoky campfire taste.  Infusing it into chocolate delivers another depth of flavor I hadn’t experienced before and it was fantastic.  If you Google lapsang souchong truffles there are but a few results of people making them so it’s a fairly distinctive creation.  Now if someone would make a) a scotch truffle and b) a lapsang souchong cayenne meltaway…

The event was sold out and was entirely too crowded.  It was held in the Bank Street Annex in Easton and I could barely move.  I tasted everything pretty much as quickly as I could, shot some photos, and left.  Next year it either needs to be moved to a larger venue, reduce the number of tickets sold, or stager tasting times because it was really uncomfortable.

Below are the offerings as listed on the program and some photos from the event:

Back Door Bakery
Brownies 3 Ways: Cappuccino, Rocky Road, and Dark Chocolate Mint Swirl
Cookies 3 Ways: Espresso Chocolate, Chewy Cherry Chocolate, and Chocolate Pistachio

Dove Chocolate Discoveries
Chocolate Martinis, Chocolate Mousse, and Assorted Candies

Flour Shop Bakery
Rich Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with fresh raspberry preserves finished with a chocolate ganache

Granny Schmidt’s Specialty Cakes
Chocolate Pecan Cheesecake
Chocolate Raspberry Minis

Green Harvest Food Emporium
Chocolate Covered Coconut Macaroons

Kym’s Creations
White Chocolate Amaretto Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Pearly Baker’s Alehouse (props for using beer in the recipe)
White Chocolate Mousse with Young’s Double Chocolate Stout served in Mini Pretzel Cups

Phoenicia
Chocolate Hazelnut Pastries
Peanut Butter-Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake
Chocolate Cheesecake with Fresh Fruit

Purple Cow Creamery
Chocolate Java Chunk
Triple Chocolate Mini Mania

Quadrant Book Mart and Coffee House
Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
Chocolate-dipped Honey Crisp Apple Wedges

Susan’s Gourmet Shop and Catering
Decadent flourless chocolate truffle cake drizzled with imported Dark Chocolate Ganache on a Marbled Chocolate Raft

Sette Luna
Terry’s White Chocolate Panna Cotta
Dark Chocolate Grand Marnier Mousse

Tallarico’s Chocolates
Dark Chocoalte Meltaways
Dark Chocolate Cayenne Pepper Meltaways
Tea Infused Truffles

Terra Cafe
Black Forest Chocolate Cafe
Chocolate Cheesecake
Assorted Cookies and Brownies

Tombler’s Bakery
White and Dark Chocolate Zebra Cheesecake
Chocolate Mousse-Filled Creme Puffs
Mocha Walnut Butter Balls
Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Shortbread

TranquiliTea House
White Chocolate Chai Soup
Chocolate Chai Truffles and Specialty Teas